Between now and December, artists and galleries with roots in Nigeria will appear at some of the world's major art events, from Lagos, Venice and New York to London, Paris and Abu Dhabi. The work ranges from the experimental Oshogbo workshops of the 1960s to recent practices shaped by migration, textiles, waste and memory, with Lagos gallery kó featuring prominently in several of the international presentations.
The season is already underway in Venice, where Victoria-Idongesit Udondian is showing in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, which closes on November 22. Her installation Obroni Wawu, an Akan phrase meaning "dead white man's clothes," is presented at the Arsenale and brings together two earlier projects, Ofong Ufok and Okrika Reclaimed. Both examine the second-hand clothing trade and the labour, migration and waste connected to discarded garments moving from the Global North to West Africa. The Biennale lists Udondian as born in Uyo and living between Lagos and New York.
The Armoury Show opens at New York's Javits Centre on September 24 and runs through September 27, with kó in its Presents section. Diana Ejaita's website lists a presentation at the fair, alongside her participation in What Lies Below Is Another Above, a group exhibition at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen running from September 13 to November 22.
In London, Frieze Masters, taking place at The Regent's Park from October 14 to 18, gives kó a Spotlight presentation devoted to the late Adebisi Fabunmi. Curated by Devika Singh and Sofia Gotti, the exhibition focuses on overlooked 20th-century artists, with this year's roster also including Lamidi Fakeye and Pacita Abad. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, Fabunmi was born in Ghana and settled in Oshogbo, where he joined Duro Ladipo's theatre company and took part in a 1964 workshop led by Georgina Beier. He became known for dense linocut city prints and yarn paintings drawing on Yoruba life.
The following week, kó takes part in Art Basel Paris, running from October 23 to 25 at the Grand Palais, with preview days on October 21 and 22. Its Premise presentation brings together works by El Anatsui, Uche Okeke and Obiora Udechukwu. Art Basel says the presentation traces the Nsukka School after Nigerian independence and its engagement with uli, an Igbo mural tradition. Anatsui, who has worked in Nigeria for much of his career, brings a sculptural practice centred on material experimentation.
Lagos has its own moment in between. ART X Lagos runs from November 5 to 8, while Lagos Art Week brings exhibitions, open studios and events across the city. Frieze Abu Dhabi follows with its inaugural edition from November 19 to 22, with kó among its exhibitors.
Taken together, the calendar shows Lagos galleries doing more than sending individual artists abroad. They are bringing historically grounded and contemporary presentations into wider conversations about modernism, material culture, migration and exchange, while Lagos continues to draw collectors, curators and galleries of its own. From Oshogbo's mid-century experiments to contemporary work addressing trade, migration and environmental change, the picture is of Nigerian art spanning generations and geographies, carried by artists and galleries into new international contexts.
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